How Much Land Does a Man Need? - Leo Tolstoy

How Much Land Does a Man Need? - Summary

Introduction

“How Much Land Does a Man Need?” is a short story by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” is a classic tale of a man’s greed and its fatal consequence.

Pakhom

Pakhom was a poor Russian peasant who wanted to own a lot of land. Even after owning some land, Pakhom was not satisfied with what he had. He remained ambitious. He learns about a wonderful deal in a distant country. So he travelled to the land of the Bashkirs.

The Wonderful Deal

The Bashkirs were a family with a huge amount of land. The elder Bashkir told that they sold land by the day. They offered an unusual deal for the sum of thousand rubles. Pakhom can walk around as much of land as he could and all that land would become his own. The only condition was that he had to reach the starting point before sunset. If he failed to return, he would lose his money. Pakhom’s greed was aroused. He believed that he had got an opportunity to gain as much land as he wanted. He felt extremely happy and spent a sleepless night.

The Easy Walk

The next day morning the village elders took him to the top of a hill and placed a hat. After giving the money, Pakhom started to walk downhill. As he kept walking, he dug holes to mark the land that he had covered. He thought it was easy to walk. He went out of his way to add more land. At noon, he realizes that he had walked too far from the starting point. When he looked at the hill, he was not able to see the people clearly. He decided to reduce walking out of his way. By afternoon, the heat was unbearable. He had walked beyond his limits. His legs ached and he wanted to take rest. He did not have time as he had to return soon. As a result, Pakhom had to run to get back to the starting point.    

The Fatal Running

When he noticed he was losing out on time, he starts pushing himself to get to the finish line He started getting weaker as he was returning. When he sees the setting sun, he realizes that he is so far from the starting point and runs back as fast as he can. He ran as hard as he could. When he arrives at the starting point, he drops down dead. He had died of dehydration and exhaustion His servant buries him in a grave only 6 feet deep. Thus ironically answering the question posed in the title. Not only did he lose his life for trying to gain land but he lost his life for being greedy. The irony of the story

The story is titled ‘how much land does a man need?” because the writer wanted to point out the consequences of greed in human beings. The question put on the title is answered ironically by writer itself. What a man really needs is land 6 feet above head to be buried in. Pakhom became a victim of his own greed.

Conclusion

The story is about satisfaction which brings happiness, and greed for more things which brings unhappiness, loss of peace of mind and even death. If we’re not careful, Greediness and lack of self-discipline may end up killing us. Money can never bring us happiness. Many people in the world today believe that we need possessions and wealth to live a happy life. They often waste their time trying to gain more for themselves. As the story said, the only thing we need in the end, is a little piece of land. We must be content with what we have.